2007-02spring tas newsletter w db cedars

Volume 51, Number 2 Spring 2007

Continued on page 3

2007 TAS Field School Menard UpdateJack Pool, Camp Boss

After visiting with Katherine Kniffen, Menard PublicityChairperson, and Carleton Kothmann, President of thePresidio de San Saba Board of Directors, it looks like every-thing is falling into place for another exciting and enjoyablefield school at Menard. Again this year the friendly folks atMenard are rolling out the red carpet for us. In addition to allthe fun of getting together with fellow TAS members, camp-ing in a beautiful shady river location, and excavating awonderful archeological site, Menard will host a variety ofafternoon and evening events for us.

Beginning on Friday, June 8th, we will set up campunder the shade trees east of the pavilion at Stockpen Cross-ing Park located a short distance west of the intersection ofHighway 83 and West San Saba Avenue (the red light on thesouth side of the river bridge). There is no cost for the groupcampsite at the park. Water, showers and port-a-potties willbe provided. Ice will be available for purchase on site.

This year will be a special year to be in Menard as we willbe helping Menard celebrate the 250th anniversary of the estab-lishment of the Presidio and Mission de San Saba. Saturdayafternoon, to kick off the celebration, there will be a pilgrimagewalk with a military color guard from the mission site east oftown to the newly restored Catholic Church downtown (a threemile walk). The Spanish Ambassador, Juan Terreros, and BishopMichael Pfeiffer will be special guests. Afterwards a commu-nity party will be held in the park under the bridge on Highway83. This will include entertainment by some of the local bands,the Song of Silver singers, and living history presentations bySpanish soldier reinactors and Lipan Apache Indians. Informa-tion booths will be set up and 250th Anniversary commemora-tive items and historical books will be available for sale.

On Sunday, the 10th, there will be a Community dinnerprovided in our honor.

Additional activities will include:

• A 250th tribute stamp cancellation ceremony held by theU. S. Postal Service.

• Free canoes and fishing gear at the camp provided by ourMenard hosts

• A group of bicyclists participating in the “Tour de Forts”meeting us at the presidio.

• Afternoon guided tours to Ft. McKavett and some of theother local historic attractions

• Indian Artifacts display and program by John andKatherine Kniffen (This was one of the highlights of ourprevious years schools since they own one of the bestprivate Indian artifact and historical collections that Ihave seen in West Texas.)

Katherine Kniffen suggests you plan on visiting thenewly remodeled courthouse, Pioneer Rest Cemetery, andthe Menardville Museum, as well as a stroll along the Ditch

R.J. and David caught a beauty just feet from their camp!

www.txarch.org

2 ✦ Spring 2007

TEXAS ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

MISSION STATEMENTThe Texas Archeological Societypromotes knowledge and preservationof Texas archeology.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEECarolyn Spock, PresidentLaurie Moseley, President ElectGlynn Osburn, Immediate Past PresidentRobert Marcom, SecretaryMarybeth Tomka, TreasurerTimothy K. Perttula, Publications EditorJonelle Miller-Chapman, Newsletter Editor

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORPam Wheat-Stranahan

Send membership inquiries, changes of address, andall business matters to:

BUSINESS OFFICE

Texas Archeological SocietyCenter for Archeological ResearchOne UTSA CircleSan Antonio, Texas 78249-0658Phone: 210-458-4393Fax: 210-458-4871

**E-mail: [email protected]: www.txarch.orgAdministrative Director: Laura Beavers

Office hours are Tuesday and Thursday from9 A.M. to 2 P.M. During other hours please leave amessage on the answering machine.

TEXAS ARCHEOLOGY

Quarterly Newsletter of theTEXAS ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Editor: Jonelle Miller-Chapman11201 Pickfair DriveAustin, Texas 78750512-257-0618Email: [email protected]

Opinions, unless otherwise stated, are those of theeditor and contributors and do not necessarily reflectthe policies of the society.

Copyright © 2006 by the Texas ArcheologicalSociety. All rights reserved. ISSN 0082-2949

Ellen Sue Turner and Thomas R. Hester givepermission to the Texas Archeological Society touse a reproduced image of the Marshall point,p. 150, in A Field Guide to Stone Artifacts ofTexas Indians, 2nd ed., as part of the TAS logo.Illustration by Kathy Roemer.

Printed at Morgan Printing in Austin, Texas

InsideTAS Field School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Did You Know? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Youth Group at Presidio San Saba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

A Tribute to Anne Fox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

It’s a Hertzian Cone! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

TAM Gets Better Every Year! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

80th Texas Legislature in Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

This is What Archeology is All About . . . . . . . . . 14

Meet the Regional Directors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

TAS Regional News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Field Methods in Rock Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Pecos Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

New Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Newsletter Deadlines for 2007

Summer—June 6Fall—August 31Winter—December 3

Calendar

April 12-14—THC Annual Historic PreservationConference; Lakeway

April 21—STAA Quarterly MeetingApril 25-29—SAA Annual Meeting; AustinJune 9-16—TAS Field School; MenardJune 29- July 2—ARARA Annual Conference, Billings,

MTJuly 21—STAA Quarterly MeetingAugust 3-5—Prewitt Conference, Krause SpringsSeptember 29—STAA Quarterly MeetingOctober 26-28—TAS Annual Meeting, San Antonio

Menger Hotel

TAS Board Meetings, 2007

April 14—AustinJune 10—MenardSeptember 8—Temple/WacoOctober 26 & 28—San AntonioOctober 27—Annual Business Meeting, San Antonio

TEXAS ARCHEOLOGY ✦ 3

Menard Filed School

Continued from front page

Walk. Also of interest are the two new murals to be dedi-cated at the downtown Mission Theater on June 9th. Later inthe week, TAS will host an Open House for the communityat the Presidio excavation site. For further information con-cerning the 250 Year Anniversary celebrations of the Mis-sion and Presidio, an official agenda will be posted by May1st at www.menardchamberofcommerce.com.

As stated in the last newsletter, the Baptist Encampmentnext door will have a few RV sites available at a rate of$15.00 a night. The Baptist Encampment will also have air-conditioned dormitories for men and women. Each dorm willsleep up to 120 people. The cost to stay in a dorm is $7.00 anight and includes full bathroom facilities with hot showers.They will also offer hot showers to TAS members not stayingwith them for $2.50 each. The contact for the BaptistEncampment is Baldemar Gonzales and he may be reached at325-396-2162 or 325-396-4437.

Again, as we expect that this field school will be verypopular, we encourage you to get reservations as early aspossible if you plan to take advantage of any of the localmotels or campgrounds.

Aerial view of Menard showing location of Stockpen Crossing Park, our campground.

Accommodations

MotelsMenard Budget Inn—210 S. Ellis, 325-396-4719Hilltop Motel—Hwy 83 North, 325-396-2075Motel 83—Hwy 83 NorthHat Creek Cabins—7 miles East of Menard, 325-396-3399

RV ParksStockpen Crossing RV Park—325-396-2780. Located ad-

jacent to the field school on the San Saba River. Waterand Electricity hook-ups.

Eden, Texas—(Located 20 miles north of Menard on U. S.Highway 83) has two RV Parks:

Hardin Creek RV Park—(325) 869-9919. 801 US Highway83 South, Eden, Texas.

Ranchero RV & Mobile Home Park—(325) 869-5205. 115N. Main Street, 1 block North of Eden Dairy Queen,Eden, Texas. Rent a mobile home or park your RV.

Additional ContactsJack Pool, Camp Boss—325-949-8499Menard Chamber of Commerce Office: (325) 396-2365

4 ✦ Spring 2007

Field School will be here in no time!By Andie Comini

June is fast approaching and Field School will be here inno time! When packing to come this year, please remembersome of the fun extra events that happen at Field School.

While it is important to pack your excavation and camp-ing equipment, this year be sure to pack a fun crazy outfit forour yearly Margarita Party! Theme this year? “FUN!” Any-thing goes! So look around the house, the Dollar Store, yourkids closet, etc., and let your imagination run wild. Comemidweek of Field School we all enjoy participating in thistraditional event!

And of course who could forget the wonderful “Sinkingof the Titanic” produced by Doug Boyd and Neal Stilleystarring all the kids at Field School! They work hard all weekfor this huge Hollywood worthy production.

Also, during your week of Field School, please makenote of those around you that go the extra mile to help, dosomething really stupid, stay incredibly clean while the restof are covered in dust, etc. as on Friday night we have TheAwards to “thank” these people for their help and laughs

Be ready to have fun! The late Skip Kennedy, AndieComini, and Grant Hall share a chuckle.

Learn the Bunny Hop from Mo Brown!(photo courtesy Doug Taylor)

during the week. Always a great way to wrap up the FieldSchool week!

Yes, Field School has a lot to offer! Can’t wait for June!

Watch Elton dance with all the pretty girls!


Did You Know?

The preservation and restoration of this 1757-1770Spanish Presidio is the long-term objective of the Presidio deSan Saba Restoration, Inc. project. Archeological excavationsby the Texas Archeological Society and Texas Tech Universityare providing valuable information for this endeavor.

The Presidio de San Saba Presidio and the MissionSanta Cruz de San Saba hold a significant place in earlyTexas history. Presidio de San Saba, along with Ft.McKavett State Park are included in the Texas Fort’s Trail.Menard County has two of the nine forts on the TexasFort’s Trail. The earliest Texas historical scene paintingstill in existence is the 1758 The Franciscan Mission of SanSaba in the Province of Texas illustrating the destruction ofthe Mission and the martyrdom of Father Alonzo Geraldode Terrerous and Father Jose de Santiesteba. It is alsoknown as The Destruction of the Mission San Saba. Thisfamous 7x10 ft. painting is currently in a museum in MexicoCity. Presidio de Restoration Inc. has had two 7x10 ftreplicas painted. One of these paintings is presently in thenew Menard Public library and the other was recently ex-hibited for three months in the Frontier Texas HistoricalMuseum in Abilene, Texas. On March 16th of last year, athirty-minute unveiling of this significant painting tookplace on the steps of the Texas Capitol in Austin. TheSpanish Ambassador, Juan Terrerous, was at this specialevent. The painting illustrates the March 16, 1758, destruc-tion of Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba. To view thepainting go to: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/sansaba/index.html

On going archaeological work is very important forour expectations of the future restoration of the Presidio.The Archaeological Department of Texas Tech Univer-sity has conducted six field schools, 2000-2004 and in2006, at the Presidio. Another field school was held in1997 at the Mission site. The Texas Archeological Soci-ety conducted additional excavations at the Presidio in2003 and 2004 with 460-480 members of all ages partici-pating. This June should be very interesting with the manyactivities honoring the 250th anniversary of the establish-ment of the Presidio and Mission here in conjunction withcontinuing Presidio excavations provided by Texas TechUniversity and the Texas Archeological Society.

During the week of June 9-June 16, a memorial to thetwo martyred priests is being placed in the old rock Catho-lic Church next to the Historic Ditch Walk. Bishop Pfieferof San Angelo, Texas, has invited many Priests of theFranciscan order to participate in a commemorative cel-ebration. An honored guest will be Juan Terrerous, theSpanish Ambassador from Washington, D.C. He will behere to honor his ancestor, the martyred priest, FatherAlonzo Giraldo de Terreros. A procession will proceedfrom the Mission site east of Menard to the memorial at theold rock church. They will recognize the sacrifice of thetwo martyred priests, Father Alonzo Giraldo de Terrerosand Father Jose de Santiesteban. In the future, an annualpilgrimage of Franciscan Priests will visit both the missionsite and the newly placed memorial in honor of the martyredpriests. Further information about the Presidio may beviewed at: http://www.presidiodesansaba.com/

Our downtown area, which includes the Spanish DitchWalk, the Memorial to Martyred Priests, and the earlySpanish Life Mural on the wall of the Mission Theatershould be an area of tourist and visitor interest.

In June of 2007 there should be considerable mediacoverage during all of these special activities. It is hopedthat events like our 250th Anniversary celebration and thestatewide media coverage should aid in stimulating inter-est in the Presidio de San Saba Restoration project.

Carleton Kothmann, President of the Presidio de SanSaba Restoration, Inc. With additional information sup-plied by Katherine Kniffen.

Replica of the 1760 painting showing the destruction ofMission Cruz de San Saba.

6 ✦ Spring 2007

Youth Group at Presidio San SabaBy Doug Boyd

It time again to think about field school again, but don’tforget the kids. The 2007 Field School at Menard will be thethird time TAS has worked at the eighteenth-century Span-ish fort called Presidio San Saba. It is a great place to intro-duce young people to the science of archeology. At the 2007field school, the camping area is great, the swimming hole isway cool, the archeology is exciting, and the youth groupextra activities are great fun. The youth group will be runonce again by the dynamic duo, Neal Stilley and Doug Boyd.They are looking forward to seeing you in Menard!

If you have any questions about the youth group at thisyear’s field school, contact one of the co-directors, DougBoyd (at [email protected]) or Neal Stilley (at [email protected]).

The Youth Group is a family affair and a great place to makenew friends. Just ask this group of local Menard folks whocame to the 2004 Field School. It’s a chance for mom or dadto get dirty, have fun, and learn archeology with their kids.

One of the fun activities for the youth is throwing darts usingan atlatl, or spear thrower. Here one of the youngsters launchesa dart under the watchful eye of Neal Stilley, with the recon-structed presidio in the background.

Two of the kids show off the gunflint they foundat the 2004 Field School.

Bill Parnell and Doug Boyd with some of the youth groupparticipants and visitors at the 2004 Field School. The recon-structed ruins at the site make it easy for kids to envision whatPresidio San Saba may have looked like in the mid-1700s.

8 ✦ Spring 2007

AAAATTTTTTTTEEEENNNNDDDDAAAANNNNCCCCEEEE AAAAGGGGRRRREEEEEEEEMMMMEEEENNNNTTTT(Required for registration)

Individually and on behalf of any family members and sponsored minors attending the TAS Field School with me, I hereby pledge andagree:

• To pay for all meals I/we eat that are provided by TAS.

• To respect the rights of other participants, keep the camping area clean, and avoid disturbing other campers.

• To abide by the rules and codes of conduct of the TAS Field School, to obey the instructions of directors and other officials of the Field

school, and to perform such archeological work and camp chores as may be assigned to me/us by Field School Directors and officials.

• To care for and turn in all equipment, records, and supplies that do not belong to me/us; to collect and excavate archeological materials

only when and where instructed by Field School officials; to properly record and turn in all artifacts and to keep records and controls in

all archeological work.

• To abide by the terms and conditions of the Texas Antiquities Statutes.

IIII HHHHAAAAVVVVEEEE RRRREEEEAAAADDDD TTTTHHHHEEEE AAAABBBBOOOOVVVVEEEE AAAANNNNDDDD AAAAGGGGRRRREEEEEEEE TTTTOOOO AAAALLLLLLLL IIIITTTTEEEEMMMMSSSS::::

Signed____________________________________________________ Date_________________________________________

LLLLEEEEGGGGAAAALLLL RRRREEEELLLLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE(Required for registration)

• I hereby release the Texas Archeological Society and the property owners from any and all liability for the safety and well being of me

or members of my family while attending the 20______TAS Field School. I/We will respect the rights and property of landowners and

will not damage or destroy public or private property.

• I approve the use by TAS and other sponsoring organizations of any photographs of me or members of my family taken by the official

Field School photographers during scheduled Field School activities for use in publications or publicity and promotional projects.

IIII HHHHAAAAVVVVEEEE RRRREEEEAAAADDDD TTTTHHHHEEEE AAAABBBBOOOOVVVVEEEE AAAANNNNDDDD AAAAGGGGRRRREEEEEEEE TTTTOOOO AAAALLLLLLLL IIIITTTTEEEEMMMMSSSS::::

Signed____________________________________________________ Date_________________________________________

AAAAIIIIDDDDEEEE TTTTOOOO YYYYOOOOUUUUTTTTHHHH PPPPRRRROOOOGGGGRRRRAAAAMMMM(Required for parents or sponsors of Youth Group participants)

Indicate below your first and second choices for the day you will help with the Youth Group. List any crafts, skills, or other activities you

could direct that day.

Name First Choice Day

Craft or Activity Second Choice Day

SSSSPPPPOOOONNNNSSSSOOOORRRR AAAAGGGGRRRREEEEEEEEMMMMEEEENNNNTTTT(Required for persons under 18 years of age unaccompanied by parent or guardian;

must be completed, notarized, and included with registration form)

TTTTOOOO BBBBEEEE CCCCOOOOMMMMPPPPLLLLEEEETTTTEEEEDDDD BBBBYYYY PPPPAAAARRRREEEENNNNTTTT OOOORRRR GGGGUUUUAAAARRRRDDDDIIIIAAAANNNN::::

I___________________________________, parent or guardian of ___________________________________, a minor, residing at

__________________________ in the city and state of _______________________ hereby release the Texas Archeological Society and

the property owners from any and all liability for the safety and well being of said minor while he/she is attending the 20_____ TAS Field

School. I hereby appoint ___________________ adult sponsor for this minor, and the sponsor has agreed to assume this responsibility.

Subscribed and sworn before me this _______day of

____________________________ (____) _______________ ______________________, 20____________Parent or Guardian Phone

Notary Public In and For the State of _____________

TTTTOOOO BBBBEEEE CCCCOOOOMMMMPPPPLLLLEEEETTTTEEEEDDDD BBBBYYYY SSSSPPPPOOOONNNNSSSSOOOORRRR::::

I,____________________________, having been appointed adult sponsor of _____________________, a minor, by his/her parent or

guardian,___________________________________, hereby agree to this appointment and further agree to assume the responsibility of

said minor at the 20_____ TAS Field School.

Subscribed and sworn before me this _______day of

____________________________ (____) _______________ ______________________, 20____________Sponsor Phone

Notary Public In and For the State of _____________


A Tribute to Anne Fox

On January 23, Anne Fox waspresented the San Antonio Histori-cal Association’s 2006 AnnualAward of Merit for her extraordi-nary achievements in helping pre-serve South Texas history. His-torian Dora Guerra served as mas-ter of ceremonies. Special remarksfrom Dr. Thomas R. Hester, Pro-fessor of Anthropology, emeritus,University of Texas, Austin, andDr. Steve Tomka, Director, Cen-

ter for Archeological Research, Department of Anthropol-ogy, UTSA highlighted Anne’s archaeological career.

Anne began her distinguished career in Texas Archae-ology in 1966 as a Research Associate at the Witte Mu-seum. In this position, through 1968, she participated insome of the earliest professional archaeological excava-tions in San Antonio and the state of Texas. Between 1968and 1970 she served as Curator of Exhibits at Mission SanJose State Park, now part of the San Antonio MissionsNational Historical Park system. In 1975 she joined thenewly opened Center for Archaeological Research at theUniversity of Texas at San Antonio as a Research Associ-ate and Associate Laboratory Director. She served in thiscapacity until the summer of 2005.

“She was one of the first people to write and welcome meto San Antonio when I was hired at the UTSA in 1973” saidDr. Hester. “Anne’s work in historical archaeology was al-ready well known at that time, and I was very pleased whenshe left the Witte Museum and came to work at UTSA whenthe Center for Archaeological Research was formed. She im-mediately began to do work with the City of San Antonio andother entities on important historic projects—one of the firstbeing large-scale excavations in Alamo Plaza. This was soonfollowed by fieldwork at Fort Griffin in Shackelford Co., forTexas Parks & Wildlife; at the Spanish Governor’s Palace forthe City of San Antonio, the historic sites and cemeteries ofthe Choke Canyon Reservoir basin down in McMullen andLive Oak Counties—and so very many more as the projectsand publications continued for 30 years.

In the 1970s, no Texas university or college taught anyserious courses on Historical Archaeology. Those of us raisedon chipped stone tools and ancient Texas Indian culturesdidn’t think too much of historical archaeology. What in theworld do they do with those bottles and square nails? It wasboring. Of course, we were wrong.

Anne’s work with the staff of CAR and the undergradu-ate and graduate students at UTSA in the 1970s and 1980sserved to train and inspire continuing research in Historicalarchaeology. I personally learned so much from workingwith her and this experience certainly expanded my previ-ously-narrow view of archaeological fieldwork!!

Anne’s studies in San Antonio history and historical ar-chaeology have covered the entire time spectrum, from all theSpanish missions to the Guenther Flour Mills and the HotWells Hotel. And Anne’s professionalism and personality ledto many converts in the City bureaucracy, and is seen also inthe support of the Conservation Society, the Daughters of theRepublic of Texas, and many other groups. I credit Anne forher work and her political skill in re-orienting DRT leadershipin the late 1970s from a concern only with “The Shrine” to agreater appreciation of the Alamo as a Spanish mission, later afortress, and even later, a big store on Alamo Plaza!

My interests in the mission Indians. . . their materialculture and what it tells us about their interaction with theSpanish. . . were greatly enhanced from working with Anne.We worked together on a number of Spanish Colonial excava-tions, the largest two being the work in the late 1970s atMissions San Bernardo and San Juan Bautista at Guerrero,Coahuila. . . and much more recently, in the study of the thirdlocation of Mission Espiritu Santo on the Guadalupe Rivernorth of Victoria. She was so very helpful to my graduatestudents, Tamra Walter, Betty Inman and Jane Lakeman, inceramic analysis and other aspects of Mission investigations.

Indeed, one cannot put boundaries on the extent to whichAnne Fox has influenced the development of Historical Sitesarchaeology in Texas. She has several productive colleagues,but in my view, she has no one that rivals her outreach, her fieldand laboratory research, and her volume of publications.”

She has directed more than 50 archaeological projectsand served on some 70. She has written or contributed tomore than 80 professional archaeological reports. At thesame time, she has presented more than 25 professionalpapers on the archaeology of Texas missions at national andstate archaeological meetings. Anne has received much rec-ognition for her work in Texas archaeology from the TexasHistorical Commission and from the Texas ArcheologicalSociety where she was elected a Fellow.

For decades, Anne contributed knowledge to numerousprofessional organizations of which she was a member, andleft a mark on countless undergraduate and graduate studentswho have studied Anthropology and Archaeology in theDepartment of Anthropology at UTSA.

Anne Fox

10 ✦ Spring 2007

It’s a Hertzian Cone!By Beth Hudson

I have never seen CAR so clean! The Texas Archeo-logical Society held its Lithics Academy here, at theCenter for Archeological Research, on the UTSA cam-pus in San Antonio, on the weekend of February 3 & 4,2007, to a full house of attentive rock hounds! The CARcrew did a dynamite job of getting things ready for us,complete with coffee, cookies and fruit, and two won-derful lunches! They had tables and chairs set up, withextra lighting, and plenty of hands-on material for us toplay with. Live flint-knapping demonstrations by Dr.Cary Voss helped us to understand what Dr. Shafer wasexplaining to us. This was quite helpful to those of uswho need lots of visual and hands on assistance! Nowwe can finally understand what all those fractures andpieces of rock mean that we keep digging up when weare excavating. Dr. Harry Shafer gave a wonderful pre-sentation (who could expect anything less?) and every-one had a lot of fun while we were learning.

Jim Stenstrom and I shared a table with a high schoolsenior and her mother from Irving, Texas. Nicky Dunnwas doing an independent study unit for her school, andwas having a blast! We were delighted to see such a largerange of ages, from high school senior Nicky, to gradstudents at UTSA, all the way to senior citizens! Most ofus seemed to be in the middle of that age range.

Dr. Shafer introduced us to the class by explainingthe basic types of rocks, along with a brief history ofstone working technology. Certain types of rocks willfracture in a predictable way, which was an advantageto the toolmaker. Dr. Shafer spent some time showingus a Geological map of Texas, and explaining the ori-gins of many of the various rocks we find around ourstate. I personally found that to be quite interesting, aswell as helpful.

The second part of the class focused on how elasticsolids (rocks) fracture! We learned about conchoidial frac-tures, which work well for flintknappers, because theycan be controlled. There are three basic ways that a ho-mogenous stone will break, depending on how theflintknapper strikes it. Dr. Voss patiently showed us thedifferent ways to strike the core, and what type of flakes

and/or fractures occurred with each strike. We learnedhow to recognize the anatomy of a flake and how to drawand label them. We also learned how to recognize thegoof-ups, and why they happened.

Part three of the session focused on analysis of flakesand how to sort and describe them. This was an importantthing for us to learn in order to help us document people’spersonal collections, as well as to know what to write in areport on any sites that we are working.

The fourth part of the class taught us how to “read”lithics, to help us in determining an artifact’s life historybased on its condition and context. Of course, it helps tofind the artifact in matrix, showing the provenience, butthat is not always the case. Dr. Voss showed us how tomake a biface, using a linear reduction system, and all ofthe problems that can go wrong along the way. Archeolo-gists can examine the fragments and try to figure out whatthe flintknapper was trying to do! We learned about wearpatterns and utilized flakes as well, and can use them asclues as to what the person using them was doing.

Part five of the class showed us how to formallydocument collections and where to send the information,etc. There are a ton of collections in Texas just waiting forus to discover! David Calame has a good head start on us,but he is sweet and patient and I know he would be glad tohelp us along! David was there on Saturday, showing off

Dr. Harry Shafer kindly answered many questions fieldedfrom Lithics Academy attendees.


the C.K. Chandler site artifacts for the STAA group. Wealso had a good representation from the HCAA group,including Bryant Saner and Dr. Paul Smith. Mary BethTomka and Lynn Yakubik were helping Dr. Shafer movethings along, and also helping to answer our many ques-tions during our hands on sessions. I’m sure all of uscould document a collection or help to write a report now!

The last section of the class was a real treat, as Dr.Shafer showed us slides from his Colha project, fromColha, Belize. The group was spellbound, and totallyamazed at some of the artifacts he showed us. Some ofthem were enormous, while others were intricately made.We enjoyed the history lesson that went along with it, andwe finally left, wanting to hear more! I can definitely seea Part II to the Lithics Academy in the making!

Many thanks to the staff at CAR, and also to the TASmembers who made the workshop possible. It was worthevery minute and, as Dr. Shafer told us, we “will neverlook at a rock the same way again!”

New TAS members Lindy Martinez, Jason Perez, and NateDiVito enjoyed taking a break from their work at CAR to

participate in the latest Lithics Academy.

✦ ✦ ✦

Texas Archeology Month GetsBetter Every Year!

Pat Mercado-Allinger, Molly Gardner, Donna McCarver and the entire THC Archeology Division staff

How good was Texas Archeology Month (TAM)2006? The participants say it best:

Our event was most informative, interesting, andwell attended.

Our speaker did an excellent job. It is nice to listento speaker who knows what he’s talking about.

More people came than we expected!

All our tours were booked, with waiting lists.

The brochures and posters were wonderful—provided lots of information.

Last October’s Texas Archeology Month had events toeducate and entertain people of all ages and interests. TAMparticipants took advantage of a myriad of opportunities tolearn about and enjoy bits and pieces of the past offered atover 90 events held all over the state. Over 39,600 folksattended events held by the 36 sponsors who returned ourevaluation forms. That’s almost double the reported

attendance for TAM 2005! The people behind this enormoussuccess are the event sponsors, the volunteers, and themany generous donors (listed on the TAM home page atthe THC web site, www.thc.state.tx.us). Thank you!

But we don’t want this repetitious success story tocurb our enthusiasm for getting even more people in-volved in the upcoming TAM. October will be upon ussooner than we think, so the time to start planning forTAM 2007 is now!

TAM events increase public awareness of the histori-cal significance of the state’s archeological sites and thecontributions of professional and avocational archeolo-gists. The momentum and response to the statewide TexasArcheology Month (TAM) observance easily sustains ahost of educational exhibits, demonstrations, lectures, pub-lic forums, and tours and, of course, archeology fairs. Weencourage everyone to support and participate in theirlocal TAM activities or even better, organize one!

Continued on page 13

12 ✦ Spring 2007

The 80th Texas Legislature is Now in Session!

Of interest to many readers, at this writing several billshave been introduced or are currently in committee pertain-ing to funding for Texas Parks and Wildlife. And bills havebeen filed proposing to move 21 State Historic Sites oper-ated by Parks and Wildlife to the Texas Historical Commis-sion. This is not a new occurrence. Next we need to examinewhy these bills have come before the legislature.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Mission is “To manageand conserve the natural and cultural resources of Texas andto provide hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation opportu-nities for the use and enjoyment of present and future gen-erations.” In 1993, the legislature earmarked a portion of thesales tax from the sale of sporting goods, and dedicated up to$32 million a year of this to parks. The public breathed asigh of relief. In their minds, the parks funding crisis seemedto be solved. But in practice, only a portion of the revenuewas actually spent on parks projects (about $21 million an-nually), with the rest of the money from the sporting goodstax—almost $100 million—used to pay for other state ser-vices. This practice continued for more than a decade. To-day, Texas Parks and Wildlife faces a funding crisis. Thecumulative effects of inflation, maintenance and repair ofinfrastructure, facilities, and historic buildings and worn outequipment has far exceeded funding. Texas ranks 49th in theU.S. in per capita funding for parks, with a contribution fromTexas taxpayers for parks of less than $1 per Texan eachyear. As our state population grows, there is no fundingavailable to purchase much needed additional land for recre-ation and conservation. Something must be done!

Representative Harvey Hilderbran filed HB 6 “relating tothe allocation and use of the sporting goods sales tax revenueto fund state and local parks.” This bill would lift the cap onthe “Sporting Goods Tax” entirely and would recover fullfunding for state and local parks. Other bills pertaining to thesame subject have also been introduced. For full informationon tracking these bills, for full text of these bills, or to contactyour legislator, please go to: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/.For information about Texas Parks and Wildlife, visit theirwebsite at: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/. The Texas State Li-brary and Archives has the entire story of Texas Parks andWildlife up on their website at http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ex-hibits/parks/index.htm.l It is called “To Love the Beautiful:The Story of Texas State Parks.” For those of you who arecurious, it makes interesting reading.

Harvey Hildenbrand also introduced HB 7 “relating to thetransfer of historic sites from the Parks and Wildlife

Department to the Texas Historical Commission, to theallocation and use of revenue by the department and com-mission, and to the eligibility of certain land for entry into thestate parks system.” The House committee on Culture,Recreation and Tourism scheduled a public hearing on thislegislation for March 6th. It was soon tabled and replaced byHB 12 “relating to the funding, powers, and duties of theParks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Com-mission related to parks and historic sites.” For currentinformation see http://www.capitol.state.tx.us. There has beenno public discussion from Texas Parks and Wildlife concerningthe proposal to transfer historic sites. A spokesperson fromTPW relays this statement to us: “Although the possible transferof State Historic Sites is of obvious interest to this agency,Texas Parks and Wildlife cannot comment on this legislation.Per Section 556.006, Government Code of the State of Texas,a state agency may not use appropriated money to attempt toinfluence the passage or defeat of a legislative measure.” Inaddition, history tells us that transfers of any or all sites couldbe done without public input or legislative action underHB2025 that transferred the former Nimitz State Historic Park,now renamed the National Museum of the Pacific War, toTHC in the last session. Contact your legislators on issues ofinterest to you!

Larry Oaks, Executive Director of the Texas Historical Com-mission has issued this statement: “In response to questions raisedabout the proposed transfer of historic sites from TPWD to theTHC we wish to provide the following clarification:

No site transfer would occur without correspondingfinancial support to adequately manage the site. In someinstances, the site would receive more funding under THCmanagement than it did under TPWD supervision. The THCanalyzes, through a multi-disciplinary team approach, theneeds of a historic site for years to come and incorporatesthat into its budget. The THC has an experienced, professionalstaff capable of providing the oversight and directionnecessary to maintain these Texas assets. The agency managessome of the most effective preservation programs in thenation, including the Texas Historic Courthouse PreservationProgram, the Texas Main Street Program and the TexasHeritage Trails Program. In most instances, these sites wouldbe integrated into these and other successful THC initiativesthat are proven economic development tools. The THC isuniquely positioned to increase heritage tourism to these andother sites, enhancing the visitor experience through itsdynamic infrastructure in ten regions throughout the state.


✦ ✦ ✦

80th Legislature

Continued from page 12

Texas Archeology Month


If you are planning a public TAM event for the firsttime, request a copy of How to Plan and Manage anArcheology Fair, which contains simple instructions for acreating a variety of different kinds of activities. Somesponsors have been involved in TAM for years now andfor others TAM 2006 was their first ambitious leap intothe world of archeology. Many sponsors were willing toshare their tips for success with us. Here are the tips thatwere emphasized the most:

• Remember the three Ps: Plan, Prepare, Publicize!

• Start planning your event AS EARLY AS POS-SIBLE!!! Line up your speakers, craftspeople,audiovisual equipment, location, dates. Some of thesepeople and things can be in much higher demand thanyou think.

• Publicize everywhere you can think of, get the wordout early, and get the facts right! Distribute flyers andTAM Calendar of Events booklets to schools, librar-ies, grocery stores—anywhere people gather. Submitpress releases to local newspapers and broadcastmedia at least two weeks before your event.

• Do NOT assume that promises will be kept orequipment will work! Double check everything, thentriple check, then be sure your back-up plan isorganized and ready to go.

• If possible, have a back-up overflow area if crowdsare much larger than expected.

• Recruit more volunteers than you think you wouldever need and recruit them early!

• Take advantage of the resources offered by the THC.

• Involve local schools, scouting organizations, youthagencies, and college students.

Once you have decided what type of event you wantto host, please share the information with us so that wecan include it in the TAM 2007 Calendar of Events.You’ll find an event form, along with a materials requestform at the following link to the THC website: http://www.thc.state.tx.us/archeology/aatam.html.

Transfer of these sites would allow both the THC and theTPWD to focus on their key missions of preservation andrecreation and wildlife, respectively.”

For a mission statement, policies, and further informa-tion about the Texas Historical Commission, visit theirwebsite at : http://www.thc.state.tx.us/. Both state agenciesalso have Strategic Plans that may be viewed online.

Of further concern to many of you, this legislative ses-sion is at this writing considering HB 1016, which is incommittee. This bill is “relating to allowing recreationalmetal detecting in designated areas of state parks.” Full textmay be read online also. These proposed pieces of legisla-tion are worthy of your study, consideration and comments;contact your legislator.

Hill Country Archeology Association member DarleneSteward shows children face-painting designs at the

Kerrville Archeology Celebration held October 7, 2006.

14 ✦ Spring 2007

Viewpoint: This is What Archeology is All About!

From a recent communication, active avocational andrecord breaking site recorder David Calame reports that BobWishoff, “the infamous Dirt Brothers.com guy, whom I con-verted to science, has helped a local teacher get her studentsexcited about archeology using a site that is soon to bedestroyed. See, to me, this is what archeology is all about!The ramifications of Bob’s showing 30 middle school kidshow archeology is done and how much fun it can be, will nodoubt benefit Texas archeology greatly!”

Lake Travis Middle School students may be makinghistory. They are participating in an archaeological dig, whichmay mark the first time middle school students have beenallowed to actively participate in such an endeavor in Texas.

Wendi Daniels, the Gifted and Talented program coor-dinator at Lake Travis Middle School followed up on a localrumor of an Indian burial ground. It seems local residentstalked of Indian mounds and arrowheads that have been

A student and his mother connected Mrs. Daniels through awebsite to TSU student and STAA member, Bob Wishoff andhis friend Charlie Swenson. After surveying the area with Mrs.Daniels and a few of her students, they concluded it would beworthy of further investigation. The students on this visit founda five-inch biface, part of a grinding stone, and a projectile pointawaiting discovery in a deep, abandoned pothole.

These students were interested in learning proper ar-chaeological technique and were willing to dedicate everyThursday evening after school to learn the correct procedurefor excavating a site. Lake Travis has students with a greatdesire to learn and be a part of researching Texas history.Their archaeological mentors were delighted to provide anopportunity for these students to be involved with “real life”science and be a part of meaningful archeology where theycan learn using interdisciplinary methods, and participate insignificant research.

Working closely with Mrs. Daniels in providing moti-vating field trips and chaperoning them too were fellowLTMS teachers Beth Young and Ginger Meeks. Studentswere patiently taught how to measure and string off a 2msquare, then how to use a trowel properly for excavation.The students worked in teams of five where two would dig,one would label and bag artifacts, and two people wouldscreen the dirt. Interesting pieces of chert, bone, shell orstone were photographed, and then the artifacts from thislevel were labeled, bagged and recorded.

James Long, Brandon Hoyer, David Hourin,Front Elling Vikesland.

Back row: Bob Wishoff, Charles Swenson, Wendi Daniels,Back row of students: Quinn Wallace, Middle: CarlianneHagye, Grant Cardwell, Andrew DeHennis, Front: David

Poulos, & Paria Rahmani.

collected from a nearby piece of property. Many of Mrs.Daniel’s students have a great interest in Native Americans,so she decided to bring them out to gather information aboutthe site. Architectural Granite & Marble, Inc. owns the prop-erty and they are planning to begin building on this site inMarch, at which time the archeology will be destroyed. ScottNiser of AG&M, Inc. has been tremendously supportive byallowing Mrs. Daniels and her students to pursue their re-search and excavation ideas.


Meet Sue GrossNew Regional Director for Region 5

Hi, I am the new Region 5 Director for the southeastGulf Coast area. I have been a TAS member > 20 years,as well as being a member of the Brazosport and Houstonsocieties. You may have seen me at any of the 16 TASField Schools that I have attended—at Nacogdoches (85),I was the one that had poison ivy before we camped in themiddle of it; at Wolf Creek (87-88), I was one of the“Four Little Kittens who Lost their Midden”; at Devil’sRiver (89), I was on the crew that recorded a new uniqueproto-historic shield rock art site; at Red River (91-92), Iremember bailing crawdads out of the excavation units sowe could continue to dig in the mud; at Lake Jackson (94-95), I was the face behind the registration and thoroughlyenjoyed camping in my own house that year with a/c andhot showers; and at Marfa (00), we had the swimmingpool in the tent! I like to wear funny hats during excava-tions, or earrings that say “I – DIG,” or my miniaturetrowel earrings. I missed the last 2 field schools, as I didnot think anyone at work would believe that I was actu-ally going to Paris to camp and dig in the dirt.

To answer the question that most of us get askedwhen people find out that we enjoy digging in the dirt—

The most exciting day for the students was an all day digwhen five units were excavated! They worked hard andpatiently in the cold, some reaching the fourth level in theirunit. Even at the end of the day, the students did not want tostop, especially when they found some exciting artifacts.They enjoyed the process, which expanded their knowledgeand admiration of an archaeologist’s work. All were amazedat how much labor is involved in moving all the dirt duringan archaeological excavation.

This was an unrecorded site before the survey. With Mr.Wishoff’s assistance, LTMS students are credited for docu-menting and recording the “Cedar Site” and obtaining a

trinomial site number (41TV2258) from the Texas Archeo-logical Research Laboratory at the Pickle Research Center inAustin, TX. Bob is writing a summary of the work for LaTierra, published by STAA. This allows these students’ workto be referenced in research publications concerned with thisregion. Best of all, the students will be credited with doingthe fieldwork!

The investigation continued each Thursday with the num-ber of chert pieces excavated increasing as the levels wentdeeper. The plan is to continue the dig until the site is closedfor construction. The goal of enriching these young liveswith a taste of Texas archeology has been accomplished.

Viewpoint



Sue Gross in the field, wearing a hat of course!

“What made you get interested in Archeology?”—I havealways liked history, and even dug up old bottles in thecreek/trashdump behind my grandparents’ house when I wasa kid—anyone else have a pig-shaped mustard bottle for a

16 ✦ Spring 2007

Life in the pits is not bad after all: a dream cometrue for Jennie!

States heritage, but the heritage of Mexico as well.My interests in archeology go as far back as I can

remember. Growing up in the farmland of Iowa, I wasalways fascinated by an old tractor seat, or an oldwagon wheel.

As a child I wondered what kind of people thosefarmers were, how they lived, what they ate, what werethe things they enjoyed. What a thrill to touch or look atsome relic, to dig up a piece of pottery, seeing the verything they saw and touched long ago. It connects me tothem, and we all have that need to connect.

Presently I am Office Manager at Rio RV Park herein Brownsville. I had decided after reading all the arche-ology magazines and watching National Geographic, Iwanted to do something. And if I couldn’t get to Peru orSouth Mexico right now, why not look to my own back-yard? So I looked for a group that shared my interests. Ifound there wasn’t any in my area, but did find TAS. Idecided to get a group together, and formed The RioGrande Delta Archeological Society.

I have found those with like interests, and all kinds oflocal activities and projects to become involved in, righthere in my own community. I have pride in Texas and insearching out the past, to see where we are going, andwhat we have become.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first field school last sum-mer in San Patricio with Dr. Bob Drolet. I look forwardto getting so much more involved this coming summer.

For anyone wanting to get involved or talk about yourinterests in history and archeology in Region 7, pleasecontact me at [email protected], or give me acall at 956-266-8225, or out of town through my parkoffice at 866-279-1775.

Meet the Regional Directors


piggy bank? One day I took a vacation trip to see the pyra-mids of Teotihuaca’n and the National Museum of Anthro-pology in Mexico City, and was telling a co-worker aboutthe trip, when he invited me out to a local excavation. As thesaying goes—I was “hooked.” Being a part of the smallregional Brazosport Society has allowed me to experience afull-range of duties; who can resist the line—“if you becomea member of BAS, we will make you an officer!”

While my main interest has always been historicalexcavations, since that is where I started and can relate tothe usage of the artifacts that are discovered, I have par-ticipated and enjoyed various archaic and pre-historic op-portunities also. I have worked at the Hermitage (Pres.Andrew Jackson’s home) in Nashville, Colha in Belize,and a mammoth site in Clute. I presented a historicalceramics discussion at the Corpus Christi TAS AnnualMeeting, and I am the “Gross” of the Gross, et.al.—EagleIsland Plantation report in the TAS Bulletin Vol 61/1990.Currently, Brazosport members are documenting the re-mains of 50+ plantations in Brazoria County.

I have worked for Dow Chemical Company inFreeport for > 25 years. Along with Bob, we have acockatiel named Mary Austin Holley (Stephen F. Austin’scousin), and enjoy traveling, trout fishing, and backyardbirdwatching. I collect 19th-century Staffordshire trans-fer-printed plates, refinish hand-made furniture crafted bymy grandfather, and I enjoy quilting.

See you in Menard in June 07—ask anybody for theBrazosport group!

Meet Jennie GalvanNew Regional Director from Brownsville

I cover Region 7, the area from Corpus Christi toLaredo and all counties South.

My goal is to increase public awareness and partici-pation in my Region for archeology, to stir the regionalcommunities to want to discover what was here long ago,and who were the peoples who lived here, and how theyhave such a bearing on our lives today. I want people tofeel what I feel for our prehistory, and to be proud to livein a state so rich with not only our Texan and United


TAS Regional News

News in Region 11

Tim Roberts, Regional Director

The last couple of months have seen a noticeableincrease in the archeological activity here in Region 11.The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s ArcheologySurvey Team and myself conducted survey work at BigBend Ranch State Park during much of February, andhave made several discoveries that should contribute to abetter understanding of the prehistory and history of thestate park and the surrounding area. Among the recentdiscoveries made at Big Bend Ranch was the first earlyPaleoindian diagnostic artifact, a Folsom dart point base,recovered from the 300,000+ acre park. Also among theartifacts recovered were several prehistoric pottery sherds,some pottery types of which have not been previouslyidentified on the park.

Archeological surveys for proposed trail maintenancein Franklin Mountains State Park have also recently beencompleted. While these surveys did not result in any sig-nificant new archeological discoveries on that property, Iwill soon be recording a couple of sites on the park thatare not associated with the trail maintenance, including aknown historic tin mine and a circa 1950s B-36 bombercrash site.

The El Paso Archaeological Society continues to hostguest lecturers at their monthly meetings, which are held atthe El Paso Museum of Archaeology on the third Thursdayof each month at 7:30 p.m. The next monthly meeting, tobe held March 15th, will feature guest speaker Dr. WilliamH. Walker, New Mexico State University. Dr. Walker willdiscuss the recent excavations of a pueblo near Deming,New Mexico, in his talk entitled: ‘The Kipp Ruin: Explor-ing a Solado Pueblo on the Lower Mimbres River’. Al-though this area is traditionally seen as part of the Mimbresculture heartland, findings resulting from the excavationsof this site revealed that a different culture occupied thisregion of southern New Mexico by AD 1300.

On April 19th, EPAS will host Evelyn Billo, founderof Rupestrian CyberServices, Flagstaff, Arizona, and Vice

President of the American Rock Art ResearchAssociation. In her talk, “Greater” Colorado Plateau RockArt’s Place in the World’, Billo will show that, whilesome images are unique to the region, other repre-sentational elements in Colorado Plateau rock art,including bears, lions, horses, owls, handprints, andabstract imagery such as geometric patterns, exist throughspace and time. She will contrast images from Paleolithicand Bronze Age sites of Western Europe, Africa,Australia, India, China, Rapa Nui and other places withthe imagery of the Southwetsren United States.

Other upcoming EPAS events include a trip to theMuseum of Archaeology and the Customs House Mu-seum in Juarez, Mexico on April 21st. The reader is en-couraged to visit the EPAS website, http://www.epas.com,for additional details of these events, and field trips, asthey become available.

The Center for Big Bend Studies, Sul Ross StateUniversity, Alpine, is continuing ongoing archeologicalinvestigations around the Big Bend region. Much oftheir recent efforts have focused on geoarcheologicalstudies, further rock art documentation, and continuedarcheological survey. Among the many interesting dis-coveries by the CBBS are a number of petraforms orrock alignments that have recently been identified in theregion. These features can be especially difficult to rec-ognize, and many questions remain about the purpose oftheir construction. Additional details of the research be-ing conducted by the CBBS may be found on theirwebsite, www.sulross.edu/~cbbs.

Region 12 Quarterly Reportas of March 2, 2007

Paul Smith

The Southern Texas Archaeological Association metat San Antonio’s Incarnate Word University ConvocationCenter on January 13, 2007 with Dr. Michael Collinsspeaking on “Searching For the First Americans.”


18 ✦ Spring 2007

Dr. Robert Ricklis spoke on “Emergent CulturalComplexity at Buckeye Knoll.” Over 100 people attendedthis quarterly meeting. The STAA has made several fieldtrips, including one to the Goliad area for a field sitesurvey of 1000 acres in February.

The Hill Country Archeological Association met onJanuary 20, 2007 at Kerrville’s Riverside Nature Centerto hear Chris Lintz speak on “Bison Processing Sites.”With a donated camcorder, the speakers’ presentationsare now being recorded for future membership review andinstruction. Kay Woodward began her election year asPresident of the HCAA. The organization has expandedtheir Board of Directors with the inclusion of past HCAApresidents as non-voting advisors and resources. EightHCAA members also attended the TAS Lithics Academyheld in San Antonio last February.

The HCAA next meeting will be March 17th. Sched-uled to speak is Dr. Steven Tomka and his program istitled “From Atlatl and Darts to Bows and Arrows: SomeThoughts on Why and How It May Have Happened.” Thepublic is welcome.

Rock Art Academy


Region 10 News

From Claude Hudspeth

The Concho Valley Archeological Society has finallyrecovered from hosting the TAS annual meeting in Octo-ber. We have been paid our share of the profits and every-one is happy. A Christmas dinner was held at Ft. Conchoon December 15. On Saturday, December 30th, a field tripto the Gill ranch, located on Dove Creek at Knickerbocker,was made. This was a educational trip for new members toexpose them to survey techniques and the methods of re-cording sites for TARL. An actual survey will be con-ducted on the adjacent 1000 acres in the early spring and allsites located will be recorded for TARL.

The Iraan Archeological Society made a revisit field tripto 41PC23, which had been excavated by the University ofTexas in the 1930s. They held their annual Christmas dinneron December 16th in Iraan. On January 6th and 7th, theSociety surveyed the Eisenwine Ranch, located 10 milessouth of Pecos. They got a good start, but need to return.They also hosted the Southwestern Federation of Archeo-logical Society’s annual symposium on March 24 and 25.✦ ✦ ✦

Call for Papers

Additional information to be forthcoming in the Summer Newsletter

For the 78th Annual Texas Archeological Society Annual Meeting

The Menger Hotel, San Antonio, Texas, October 26-28, 2007

And yet again, into the breach! It’s time for members to submit abstracts of papers, symposia, and poster displays tobe presented at the Annual Meeting. Presenters with all levels of experience are welcome to submit abstracts forconsideration. All presentation rooms will be equipped with PowerPoint projectors and laptop computers. Slideprojectors will be made available upon request. Overhead projectors will not be provided unless specifically requested.

Individual Papers—Titles and Abstracts are due—September 1, 2007

Symposia—Titles and Abstracts are due August 15, 2007

Poster Presentations—Titles and Abstracts are due September 1, 2007

For questions, call Kay Hindes (830) 570-0138 or email [email protected]


Field Methods in Rock Art

Earn university credit while studying rock art in theLower Pecos region of Texas. Texas State University,San Marcos, Texas, and SHUMLA School, Comstock,Texas, are offering a three-week course, “Field Methodsin Rock Art,” May 14–31, 2007. The instructor will beDr. Carolyn E. Boyd, one of the leading experts on therock art of the Lower Pecos region; assisted by Elton R.Prewitt, archeologist and longtime researcher in the area.

After visiting the area and seeing a number of therock art sites, Dr. Jean Clottes stated, “. . . it is myconsidered opinion—after having seen rock art on all thecontinents—that the Pecos River rock art is second tonone and ranks among the top bodies of rock art any-where in the world.”

During this course students will learn:

• How to establish a field research design and field datacollection protocols.

• Rock art recording methods, including photography,mapping, sketching, and written inventories.

• Laboratory procedures, record keeping, cataloguing, andrecords curation.

• Rock art data analysis—formulating and testing hypotheses.

• Current theories regarding the meaning and function ofrock art.

• Archaeology of the Lower Pecos, hunter-gathererlifeways, and the foraging adaptation.

This course earns the following credit: 6 hours under-graduate or 3 hours graduate.

For details check http://www.studyanywhere.txstate.edu/ext_anthropology. You can also contact Kathleen Burgess atThe SHUMLA School, P.O. Box 627, Comstock, TX 78837,or E-mail her at [email protected].

To read about the class held in 2006 checkhttp://www.shumla.org/programs/university-classes/

051506-060206/index.htm.

Students record rock art in a shelter along the Devil’s River during the 2006 Field Methods in Rock Art class.

20 ✦ Spring 2007

Pecos ExperienceThe Art and Archeology of the Lower Pecos

SHUMLA School offers you a “once in a lifetime”adventure that provides unequaled access to 4,000-year-old rock art and on-site study with internationally re-nowned rock-art researchers.

For the program in 2007—October 14-19—SHUMLA’s Visiting Expert will be internationally recog-nized rock art researcher and retired regional U.S. ForestService archeologist, Dr. James D. Keyser. Dr. Keyserwill join with Dr. Carolyn Boyd, SHUMLA’s ExecutiveDirector to lead a select group of participants to some ofthe most stunning and best-preserved rock art panels inthe world.

Dr. Keyser is widely known as a pre-eminent experton North American prehistoric rock art, archeology, andcultural history; Dr. Boyd is the author of Rock Art of theLower Pecos, and is one of the leading experts on the rockart of the region.

Join Dr. Keyser and Dr. Boyd as they discuss andexplain these prehistoric treasures. This is a uniqueopportunity for you to explore the canyons of the LowerPecos: to expand your vision of the meaning of rockart; to experience the excitement and camaraderieforged as you hike to the shelters, learn about the localarcheology; to enjoy the succulent products of a pre-historic earth oven; and to learn to make musical in-struments of the past using the natural resources of theChihuahuan Desert.

Other instructors during the week will be archeologistElton Prewitt, longtime researcher in the Lower Pecosregion, archeobotanist Dr. Phil Dering, and other talentedarcheologists, primitive technologists, and artisans.

Activities will include:

• Unequaled access to 4,000 year old rock art and on-site study with leading rock art researchers

• Touring Mile Canyon, visiting rock art sites and Bon-fire Shelter for a discussion of bison-jump sites withElton Prewitt

• Evening lectures and discussions as Dr. Keyser speaks

on the function and meaning of North America’s in-triguing Plains Indian rock art

• Making paint using bone marrow, mineral pigments,and juices from the yucca plant

• Studying primitive technologies including weaving andcordage production, fire starting, and atlatl spear-throw-ing

• Building an earth oven with Dr. Dering, then cookingdesert succulents in that oven and tasting them

For registration information check the SHUMLASchool Web site at http://www.shumla.org/participate/shumla_ adventures.htm#rockart07, or contact KathleenBurgess at [email protected].

Participants of the 2006 Pecos Experiencevisited spectacular rock art sites in the Lower Pecos

region of Texas.”


Announcements

Phoenix, AZ—Beautiful Billings, Montana will bethe setting for the 33rd annual conference of the Ameri-can Rock Art Research Association (ARARA), to con-vene June 29th–July 2nd, 2007. Billings, located northeastof Yellowstone Park on the Yellowstone River, is portalto the abundance of southeastern Montana area archaeo-logical features.

A diverse program is planned, exploring the many facetsof rock art—the study of prehistoric Native American mark-ings found on stone in natural landscape settings. Presenta-tions on the rock art of Montana and beyond will form theheart of the conference, and will be accompanied by fieldtrips, forums on education and conservation, an auction andthe ever popular vendor room.

ARARA, the oldest rock art association, is a diversecommunity of members dedicated to the preservation,research and communication of the significance of rockart, which is a non-renewable resource of enduring cul-tural value, and an important expression of shared humancultural heritage.

For more information about ARARA, please visit:www.arara.org. For information about the Billings area: http://ci.billings.mt.us/Visit/visitor.php

Summer Plans for the Legacy Program

We are excited to announce our Summer 2007 activities:For children ages 7-12Summer camps

Camp 1 (ages 7-9) June 18-22, 2007Camp 2 (ages 10-12) July 23-27, 2007Camp 3 (ages 10-12) August 6-10, 2007This year’s theme is The Maya! Camps are from 9:00am-

4:00pm, Monday through Friday. The cost is $190 per week,which includes all supplies, snacks and a t-shirt.

Camp space is limited to 18 children per week.

For ages 13 and upHistorical Archaeology Field School at Rancho de las

Cabras!Date: July 9-13, 2007Times: 8:30am-2:30pm on site (limited transportation

from UTSA at 7:15am daily)Rancho de las Cabras is located in Wilson County

within the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.

It was built in the mid 1700s (sources range from 1746-1760) to contain the livestock belonging to the missions.Field school participants will excavate the courtyard toimprove documentation of ranch life, which will assist theNational Park Service’s effort to interpret the site for visi-tors. You can visit http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/images/he4.html to learn more and see some neatphotos of the ranch and artifacts.

Training will include excavation techniques, drawingand interpretation of stratigraphic profiles, mapping and sur-veying, and information about stone artifacts, prehistoric andhistoric ceramics, and faunal remains.

Interested people ages 13 and up are invited to partici-pate in this extraordinary opportunity to learn about SanAntonio’s cultural heritage, your cultural heritage. Teacherswill earn CPE credits and students will gain college levelexperience in a unique learning environment. The cost is$130 for the week. Space is limited to 20 participants.

For more information about these activities, or to down-load registration forms, please visit http://car.utsa.edu/index.html (click on Legacy) or e-mail me at [email protected]!

Grant for FS Publications

In February TAS received a grant from The Summer-field G. Roberts Foundation to underwrite a special publi-cation of field school reports. Manuscripts under consider-ation are the Oblate site (1963 field school) by Sean Nash,Sabina Mountain No.2 (1977 field school) by DavidRobinson, Firecracker Pueblo (1986 field school) by TomO’Laughlin, an Amistad report (1999 field school) by JackJohnson and Angel Johnson, the Roistch site (1991-92 fieldschool) by Bill Martin, Faskin Mound by Tim Perttula, andRed River Survey from 1991-92 by Tim Perttula. Thesereports are the result of tracking by the Reports and CurationCommittee in an on-going effort to get past field schoolspublished and distributed.

McKinney RoughsArchaic Campers on the Colorado River

At this site near Bastrop, archeologists worked ahead of(and in tandem with) construction of the Hyatt Lost Pines


22 ✦ Spring 2007

Donations to Donors FundLaura Acuna

Michael AiuvalasitPat Mercado-Allinger

Kay AllisonJoan BakerSteve Black

Virgil Branch, Jr.Cecile CarterHester DavisGlenna Dean

Deep East TX. Arch. Soc.Eloise GadusVictor Galan

D. Ward GregoryD. W. & Jane Gulley

Charles A. HixsonJay & Linda Hornsby

Nancy KenmotsuWilliam E. & Cathy Kidd

Robert LassenPaul D. Lukowski

Andrew MalofPat Perkins

New Members

Bryan AdamsSara Baker

Timothy BeaucheneMary BottiTricia Boyd

Jennifer BrancatoChristine Buckstead

Viva CaldwellEmma & Cecil Lang Casebier, Jr.

Heather CosbyWayne Cruze

Douglas DaniellEdward DavisDana DelgadoNathan DiVito

Ed & Kay DolzelPatricia & Samuel Duarte

Morgan GintherDavid Glasco & Family

Tom & Pat GodwinLynn & Clayton Griffin

Bernard HaegelinBob Harris

Charlotte Harrison

Steven & Janie HoferRobert & Patricia Hough

Edward & Rita Tait- JacksonMorris JacksonDonald KeithLarry KellerKaty Kirk

Gregory LaBuddeJerome & Kathleen LaValley

Alexis LeFortJohn C. & Jan Lineweaver

Amber MarsacLindy Martinez

Sarabeth MayfieldC. Wade Meade

Dolores Mehrens & FamilyAlice Moffitt

Nathan MontalvoGreg Pasier & Family

Jack D. PaslayJason Perez

William PettyMelva Price

Ross Rutherford

Brenda SantanaLeeAnna Schniebs &

Chris KuglerKaren SikoraAmy SommerCarolyn Spears

Gary SpicerJon R. Stephens & Family

Richard TaylorVanessa TibbsAnne Tindell

Thomas VanceCary Voss

Don WaldenWayne WallaceRoy Wehmohs

Kathleen W. WeigelBeverly WilkinsJeffrey Williams

Phyllis WolfWilliamson Co. Historical

Commission

Tim PerttulaRolla ShallerMark Walters

Margaret Howard in memoryof Beth Davis

Donations to the EndowmentFund

Laura AcunaKay AllisonDoug Boyd

Virgil Branch, Jr.Nica Vernon Carson

Cecile CarterRobert & Ann Crosser

Deep East TX. Arch. Soc.D.W. & Jane Gulley

Bryan JamesonAnne Jolliff

William E. & Cathy KiddRobert Lassen

Paul D. LukowskiSuzanne MabeAndrew Malof

Bill MooreTim Perttula

Pam & Phil Stranahan

The Following have Renewedat the Contributing Level

Janice & Neel CarterJonelle & Jerry Chapman

William C. FosterJohn Ippolito

Ron & Brenda JacksonCharles R. LewisSue Amini-Minor

Margaret ParrG. R. Dennis PriceRobert L. Richey

Robert P. Thompson

Prewitt & Assoc. has renewed atthe Plainview Business

Membership Level


A Donation has beenreceived from

Mal & Judy Crews

A generous donation to supportTAS Academies has been

received from Brenda Whorton

The following members havecontributed to

the Student Scholarship FundJanie Barnes

Owen W. BludauJonelle & Jerry Chapman

Joel DanielHester DavisLindy Fisher

D. Ward GregorySue Gross

Jerry & Deana GrubisDylan & Kathy Huntsman

Carol MacaulayChris Meis

Howard PowersJohn P. Yates

Generous gifts forRadio Carbon Dating for the

Stallings Site have been receivedfrom:

Alan SkinnerLaurie Moseley

Contributors to the NativeAmerican Field School

Scholarship FindOwen Bludau

Andy & Mary CloudJoel Daniel

Hester DavisSusan Dial

Lindy FisherKathleen GammillD. Ward Gregory

Sue GrossJerry & Deana GrubisCurt & Helen Harrell

Doris HowardDylan & Kathy Huntsman

John KothmanCarol Macaulay

Laurel & Bill MartinCharles MorganHoward PowersBrownie Roberts

Jerry SadlerLaura ShortellRoy WhitneyJohn P. Yates

Suzanne & Chuck Patrick

Announcements


Resort and Spa to complete their investigations, zeroing inon a remarkably intact living surface created by TransitionalArchaic foragers sometime around A.D. 1100-1150. As mostof us know, finding well-preserved surfaces with little or nooverprinting is a rare occurrence. In this case, the diagnostictime markers were Darl points, a rather late showing for thissmall transitional projectile (dart point? arrow point?)according to most cultural chronologies.

Written by Steve Carpenter with contributions fromKevin Miller, both of SWCA Environmental Consultantsof Austin, the exhibit takes us through the evidence anddraws on a variety of comparative models based on modernhunter-gatherer camps to help illuminate their findings.TBH Editorial Assistant Heather Smith created several newfeatures for the exhibit, including a rollover distributionalmap allowing viewers to examine what was found in sev-eral activity areas.

The Woodbine Development Corporation and BastropResort Partners, L.P., sponsored the archeological investiga-tions on behalf of Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort andSpa. This exhibit is a public-education component of thoseinvestigations as stipulated by the Lower Colorado RiverAuthority, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the TexasHistorical Commission. http://www.texasbeyond history.net/mckinney/index.html

Arkansas Archeology Training Programfor Public Set for June

The Arkansas Archeological Survey and Arkansas Ar-cheological Society will cosponsor a Training Program inArchaeology June 9-24, 2007, at the Jones Mill Site nearMalvern, in Hot Spring County, Arkansas.

The annual Training Program and excavation has beenconducted at various sites throughout Arkansas since1972. The 2007 Training Program will be an investiga-tion of Archaic Period novaculite stone tool manufactureand exchange. The Jones Mill Site, which is listed on theNational Register, may have served as a home base dur-ing Middle and late Archaic periods for local groups ofhunter-gatherers who worked novaculite from nearbyquarries. The excavation will be important for studyingArchaic-period lifeways in the middle Ouachita Rivervalley and for documenting the role that novaculite toolproduction played locally and regionally.

No experience is necessary to participate, and bothadults and children as young as 8 (accompanied by anadult) are welcome. Participants receive hands-on instruc-tion in field methods and have the opportunity to enrollin week-long seminars on a variety of archeological top-ics. Minimum length of stay is 3 days. Fees and expensesvary depending on length of stay, with a maximum regis-tration fee of $50. Participants cover their own costs ofroom and board.

For more information, contact Barbara Scott, ArkansasArcheological Survey, at [email protected], or 479-575-3556.

Texas Beyond History ✦ www.texasbeyondhistory.net

Texas Archeological SocietyCenter for Archaeological Research

One UTSA CircleSan Antonio, Texas 78249-0658

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDAUSTIN, TEXAS

PERMIT NO. 1187

2007-02spring tas newsletter w db cedars

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